2,000 Police Officers Found Mentally Unfit to Serve

Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai on Tuesday disclosed that close to 2,000 police officers are unfit to serve in the police service.

According to Mutyambai, the cases were discovered after a thorough medical examination was conducted on all police officers across the country. The medical examination was done after increased suicide and depression cases were reported among members of the National Police Service.

“We have subjected all the officers to medical examination, and to our surprise, we got a big number. We isolated almost 2,000 police officers who are unfit to do their law enforcement work,” Mutyambai said.

Speaking while addressing Anglican Bishops and Senior Clergy in Westlands, Nairobi on Tuesday, Mutyambai noted that the mass medical testing also helped in exposing some of the officers who had developed a habit of absconding their duties with an excuse of being unwell. He added that the process of managing some of the mentally unfit officers has been initiated.

He highlighted the importance of having stable officers in the service, pointing out the high risk posed especially when the officers are in the custody of guns.

“The Police Service has now started the process of managing some of them. To remove someone from work (because of medical grounds) is not easy. The government has its processes…Our tool of work is the gun, and when one bullet is discharged, the implications are serious,’’ He said.

Among the factors that Mutyambai attributed to the rising cases of mental instability include corruption during recruitment as well as a lack of social support system.

In January, the Police Service Partnered with a team of Health Specialists to train senior officers on ways of dealing with mental issues in order to combat the rising mental health cases among police officers which are taking a toll on the officers’ performance.

The exercise paved way for officers to communicate about any form of stress and trauma they are facing in both their professional and personal lives. Police commanders were also trained on how to be keen to detect emerging cases of depression, stress, or mental illness on time.

Mutyambai cautioned Kenyans against treating the issue as an isolated case but addressing it within the society.

In case you are experiencing mental health illness or your loved ones or a person near you has mental issues, you can reach out to medics, counselors, and psychologists through the Kenya Red Cross toll-free hotline, 1199 for support.